The Coming Judgment

 

Friday, March 5, 2021

"The oracle that the prophet Habakkuk saw.  O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not listen?  Or cry to you “Violence!” and you will not save? Why do you make me see wrong-doing and look at trouble?  Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise.  So the law becomes slack and justice never prevails.  The wicked surround the righteous— therefore judgment comes forth perverted.... Habakkuk 1:1-4
I will stand at my watchpost, and station myself on the rampart; I will keep watch to see what he will say to me, and what he will answer concerning my complaint.  Then the Lord answered me and said:  Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so that a runner may read it.  For there is still a vision for the appointed time; it speaks of the end, and does not lie.  If it seems to tarry, wait for it; it will surely come, it will not delay.  Look at the proud!  Their spirit is not right in them, but the righteous live by their faith."  Habakkuk 2:1-4

Habakkuk’s 6^th Century (BC) world was about to come crashing down around him.  It was a prosperous time, and yet disaster was brewing on the horizon.  God was about to empower the people whose ancestors were “God-haters” – Nimrod, Baal-worshiping pagans, idolaters.  These were the worst sinners on record, and God was going to give Jerusalem into their hands, lock, stock, and barrel. 

God was about to use the worst of humanity to punish his own beloved and peculiar nation, Israel, the descendants of Abraham. 

That seems a strange way to treat people you say you love!

And…America is on the same course if we continue to put aside our faith and dependency on God.  That seems a stranger way to treat our own future.

Our world is a lot like Habakkuk’s Israel.  There is violence, wrong-doing, strife, and a sense that justice and judgment are perverted. 

Places like Darfur, Haiti, Iraq, and Afghanistan conjure up immediate dark images of suffering against the backdrop of a world consuming itself in selfishness.  Who wouldn’t want to question God about the fairness of conditions like these?

·       For one, people who are selfishly responsible for the conditions

·       For another, people who have given-up on trusting God

·       For a third, people who’ve decided that cancel culture is the way to end everything that is a perceived injustice.  It’s imagining evil will fade into the darkness if we just get people to stop saying bad stuff.

Habakkuk hadn’t given-up on God.  Like Job, Habakkuk was concerned and anxious that God would act to change things, not just for Habakkuk, personally, but for his nation, Israel.  Habakkuk also didn’t consider, for one minute, turning anywhere else but to God for his answers.  That’s the meaning of “the righteous live by their faith”.  True faith in God understands we are totally dependent on him – and we put him first!

And what was God’s answer?  “Read my lips” – no – READ MY LIPS!   God said, you can write this down, Habakkuk…and use big block letters so even a messenger on the fly passing by can pick it up clearly…set it in stone, Habakkuk…let everyone know these three things:

·       The Kingdom will come

·       The arrogant proud won’t be happy when it happens

·       Those who are on my side will live dependent on me; they won’t look for help in anything or anybody else.

For You Today

What’s stranger about us today is that we don’t seem concerned enough about what’s coming to turn back to God. 

May He forgive us, and help us!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

[1] Title Image:  Courtesy of Pixabay.com    Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©